Are Guns America’s Biggest Public Health Crisis?
Doctors on the frontlines were once reluctant to get involved in the politically charged debate. Now that’s changing.
Caution tape blocks Central Avenue in Highland Park, Illinois, on July 5, 2022, the day after a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade claimed seven lives and injured dozens more.
Photographer: Madison Muller/BloombergMedical professionals were once reluctant to become involved in the deeply politicized fight over gun regulation in America. But over the past year, participation has taken on a new urgency for those on the frontlines, as the US spirals ever deeper into crisis and carnage.
Gun violence has become the country’s leading cause of death for people under the age of 19. It kills more than 40,000 Americans and costs the equivalent of more than $500 billion annually. To medical professionals, gun violence is now a public health crisis similar to cigarette smoking and motor vehicle safety, and more of them are headed to Washington to lobby accordingly. One law they seek is one that was allowed to expire 19 years ago: a ban on assault rifles. But in a hyper-polarized America where gun manufacturers wield outsized power, can such an effort succeed where so many others have failed?